Bolsheviks + Mensheviks

• Both groups experienced a decline in membership following the 1905 Revolution.

  • This was not helped by the fact that all of the main leaders such as Lenin, Martov and Trotsky were in exile.
• The Okhrana were very effective at infiltrating and disrupting the activities of those who remained in Russia.
• The lack of funding for both groups reduced their ability to publish materials to spread their messages.
• The Bolsheviks enjoyed some support within trade unions in Moscow and St Petersburg.

  • In 1912, they launched a new party newspaper called Pravda ("The Truth") which achieved a circulation of 40,000 by 1914.
  • However, their impact on politics was very limited and a planned general strike in St Petersburg in July 1914 did not happen.